Movies, Writing the Crime
March 14th 2008 14:25
The Crime Writer’s Reference Guide, 1001 tips for Writing the Perfect Murder (2nd Edition) by the late Martin Roth is not a book that you sit down and read cover to cover. The book rests on your bookshelf until you are writing a story that needs an accurate portrait of anything that deals with a crime.
For example, you want to create an accurate profile of a serial killer. You would look in Crimes Writer’s Reference Guide’s glossary under serial murder. Turn to the pages indicated, and find out that there are four major categories of serial killers. And that, “studies reveal that most serial killers are white males between the ages of twenty-five and thirty-five and are usually products of working-or-lower-middle-class families. Serial killers often seek victims from upper-middle-class backgrounds. Many serial killers are charming, selfish, impulsive and ambitious: many come from broken homes or homes where they were abused… Few serial killers express any feelings of guilt or remorse for their crimes.” What an excellent beginning for your character study!
Whatever you do: Don’t have your cops say, “Let’s take him downtown for questioning.” According to Roth, real cops never say it.
Reading the book filled my head with truthful ideas for stories and characters. What also intrigued me was the character description of cops, what their lives are like and not like.
For example, you want to create an accurate profile of a serial killer. You would look in Crimes Writer’s Reference Guide’s glossary under serial murder. Turn to the pages indicated, and find out that there are four major categories of serial killers. And that, “studies reveal that most serial killers are white males between the ages of twenty-five and thirty-five and are usually products of working-or-lower-middle-class families. Serial killers often seek victims from upper-middle-class backgrounds. Many serial killers are charming, selfish, impulsive and ambitious: many come from broken homes or homes where they were abused… Few serial killers express any feelings of guilt or remorse for their crimes.” What an excellent beginning for your character study!
Whatever you do: Don’t have your cops say, “Let’s take him downtown for questioning.” According to Roth, real cops never say it.
Reading the book filled my head with truthful ideas for stories and characters. What also intrigued me was the character description of cops, what their lives are like and not like.
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